Pottinger Dropkin named top athletes mixed duo earns team award

USA Curling's most decorated athlete - Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.) - has added another notch to her long résumé after being selected as the association's 2012 Female Athlete of the Year. The male recipient is 17-year-old Korey Dropkin (Southborough, Mass.), who won two national titles this season and made U.S. history at the Youth Olympic Games.

For the first time in the award's history, a mixed doubles team is being honored as Team of the Year. Seattle's duo of Brady Clark and Cristin Clark defended their mixed doubles national title and went on to place fourth at the 2012 World Mixed Doubles Championship in Turkey this spring - the best finish ever for the U.S. "We are very honored to be recognized as the first mixed doubles team to earn the Team of the Year Award," Brady Clark said. "I think with the sport's revolution and the possibility of having it added to the 2018 Olympics, it's good timing and I'm happy that the committee and the USCA has recognized us."